


Bewitched (Bothered and Bewildered)

by Draco_sollicitus



Series: Damerey Halloween Collection [4]
Category: Star Wars - All Media Types, Star Wars Sequel Trilogy
Genre: F/M, Flirting, Fluff, Halloween Costumes, Modern AU, Party Games, Pilot!Poe, Pre-Relationship, Tumblr Prompt, engineer!Rey, meet cute
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-10-30
Updated: 2018-10-30
Packaged: 2019-08-10 03:10:11
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,906
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16462226
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Draco_sollicitus/pseuds/Draco_sollicitus
Summary: Poe Dameron attends a costume party at the request of his best friend, Finn. When his old buddy introduces him to a lovely young woman, Poe finds himself utterly bewitched.





	Bewitched (Bothered and Bewildered)

**Author's Note:**

> From a tumblr prompt from accio-the-force:  
> "Fluffy Damerey Prompt: A Meet Cute at Halloween party"
> 
>  
> 
> Slight warning: Adults drink alcohol (but neither get tipsy - they split a beer), and they mention wanting to "go home" together. Everything else? SHEER FLUFF, YOU'VE BEEN WARNED.

Poe adjusted his red and white beanie to sit back further on his hair while he maneuvered through Finn’s house party. A couple people roared in recognition, jabbing their fingers at him excitedly, and Poe grinned, glad that he’d picked this costume. 

Reaching a stretch of wall without people crowding it, Poe stood and watched the party roar on, sipping his beer absentmindedly. He didn’t really know anyone here; he’d just got back from a tour two weeks ago, and had been gone from the area for a few years before that. He’d finished unpacking his last box in his newly leased apartment yesterday, and this was his first foray back into the world. 

He hadn’t spoken to Finn since he walked in and received a bear hug from his longtime best friend - somewhere in the back of the house a glass had shattered, and Finn had excused himself, groaning, to go deal with it. Now, with “Thriller” blasting through the speakers, Poe kept an eye out for any familiar face, but contended himself with sipping free beer and enjoying the people-watching. 

Distantly, Poe worried that maybe at thirty-two, he was a little too old for this kind of thing, a little too exhausted from his tour and the move and the pressing weight of being so far away from his father, whose health had never been worse, but--

“Poe!” Finn was walking towards him, his hand behind his back as he led someone who was blocked from sight by Finn’s bulky bumble bee costume. “Are you looking for someone?”

“Yeah, man,” Poe shouted back, “I was looking for-”

“Because I think I found her.” Finn stood the side and tugged the unseen person forward, and Poe’s world came screeching to a halt. On some level, he could hear Finn saying, “Get it? Found her!” but all he could do was stare at the person Finn had revealed. 

She was beautiful - gorgeous, really - with wide hazel eyes and a shy smile, her nose small and impossibly cute; her willowy frame was somewhat hidden by her large, red and white striped sweater, and her thick brown hair was covered by a red and white striped beanie. 

“Poe, this is Rey Kenobi. Rey-Rey, this is Poe Dameron.” Finn grinned at him evilly, and Poe nodded at them in acknowledgement, his mouth too dry to talk sensibly. “I’ll leave you to it.” He disappeared back into the throngs of the party, shouting for Rosie, his fiancee. 

“Hi,” Rey said, tucking a strand of hair behind her ear. “Um. Finn said you’re new in town?”

 _Talk to her. Talk to her right now, idiot._ Poe nodded and cleared his throat. “Y-yeah. Two weeks?”  _That wasn’t a sentence!_

Rey smiled and didn’t seem to care that he was blowing this so badly. “Oh, crap, is that cider? I couldn’t find anything but PBR in the cooler.” She pointed at the bottle he held loosely in his hand, and Poe startled, dragging his eyes away from her face and to his drink.

“Yeah.” He winced, remembering. “This was the last one.” Rey shrugged good-naturedly, and on some terrible, awful, ridiculous instinct, Poe held the bottle up to her. “Do you want some of mine?”

_Just jump out the window and run away. Maybe she doesn’t even remember your name?_

“Oh, wow.” Rey’s smile was dazzling, and she accepted the bottle without blinking. Poe stared at her in open shock as her lips -  _don’t stare at her lips_  - wrapped around the top of the bottle, and she took a large sip. Poe stared at the floor, trying to remember how to talk to women who didn’t have a rank and shared a squadron with him, and thanked the sweet Lord that Jess went to a different party tonight. She’d never let him live this down. “Thanks. But I guess Waldo’s have to look out for each other, huh?” She handed the beer back to him, and Poe nodded, holding the bottle loosely. 

“Guess we should have coordinated,” Poe said. Then, some long-buried instinct rose to the top of his writhing brain, and he added, “It looks better on you, though.”

Rey honest-to-God blushed, giggling sweetly and ducking her head, and Poe found himself gravitating towards her even more. He wracked his brain but came up with nothing - nope, he hadn’t seen someone blush in...he didn’t know how long. “How do you know Finn?” He asked, and Rey opened her mouth to answer, but the music got louder as “The Monster Mash” started blaring from the speakers. 

“Oh, I love this song!” Rey said, eyes even wider with joy. Poe was about to invite her to dance to it, they could always talk later, but she reached out and tugged on the sleeve of his matching sweater. “Let’s find somewhere quieter!” She turned on her heel and marched towards the back of the house, her slim, long legs moving quickly, encased in tight denim - yeah. Poe followed her. No questions asked. 

She led him through the doors and into the backyard; Finn’s porch was decorated with cheerful lights shaped like ghosts, and a few jack-o-lanterns flickered here and there. A couple other guests had ventured outside to escape the loud party inside, but Rey stood a little further away from them, leaning up against the railing of the porch and smiling at Poe expectantly. He stood next to her and grinned more easily now. His brain found itself able to think again, now that it wasn’t competing with music or a dozen conversations or distracting dances. 

“So. Finn?” 

Poe tapped his fingers on the railing, trying to figure out how best to answer this. “We go back a while. We uh....might have met...at a counterprotest.” 

“Do tell.” Rey smirked at him, and Poe shoved his hands into the pockets of his jeans and cracked his neck out slightly. 

“There was a Neo-Nazi demonstration in Mississippi.” Poe’s nose wrinkled in disgust, even five years later. “I went to the counterprotest with a couple buddies, and when I...sort of punched a Nazi...” Rey’s smile only grew as she nodded encouragingly. “...Finn jumped in and helped me fight them. Wasn’t really a fair fight - five of them and two of us - but we kicked their asses and then ran. We ended up getting dinner together, and we’ve been best friends ever since.”

“Oh!” Rey’s eyes widened. “You’re Flyboy!”

“I am?”

“Yeah! Finn talks about you all the time - that’s how you’re listed in his phone contacts. He’s had me text you a few times while he was busy.”

“No shit!” Poe grinned at her, weirdly happy that they’d already somewhat crossed paths, at least cosmically. 

“Yes! I’m the one who sends you fifteen memes in a row.” Poe threw his head back and laughed, delighted to hear that it wasn’t Finn sending him incomprehensible messages that had always made him laugh, but rather the girl standing next to him. 

“Glad to solve that mystery,” Poe chortled, wiping his eyes. “I said ‘It’s Free Real Estate’ to Finn once, and he stared at me like I’d grown a second head.”

“Oh, Finn,” they said together, and then they both smiled shyly and looked down. 

“What brings you here? I mean, not just tonight, but in general. Work?” Rey studied his face, looking a little stressed, and Poe felt bad suddenly - she was bearing a lot of the conversation, and he was normally the social butterfly. Something about her shy smile and nervous eyes told him that Rey Kenobi didn’t talk to a lot of people, at least, didn’t initiate conversations with people. He needed to step up his game and make her more comfortable. 

“Work, definitely.” Poe smiled at her. “I’m at the Corpus Christi Air Station, just transferred here after a tour.”

“No way.” Rey’s smile was suddenly wider, delight sparkling in her eyes in a very distracting way. “Really? Are you military?”

“Yes ma’am,” Poe drawled, bringing up his old Georgia charm. Rey giggled, and the little flame in his chest that had ignited when he saw her flared a little higher. “I’m a Lieutenant Commander in the Navy. Fighter pilot.”

“My grandfather was a fighter pilot for the Navy!” Rey exclaimed.  _What don’t we have in common. “_ He raised me.”

Poe opened his mouth to ask her what she did in Corpus Christi, but then his mouth snapped shut, her last name catching up with him. “Kenobi?” He asked weakly. “The ...  _the_ Ben Kenobi?” Rey sighed dramatically and rolled her eyes with a smile, nodding at him. “Holy - your grandfather is a  _legend.”_

“He’s also a piece of work,” Rey laughed. “You didn’t grow up with his curfew.” She tugged on her hair - a nervous habit, maybe. “You can meet him, if you want. He lives near here still.” 

“Oh my  _God,_ that would be--” Poe stopped his fangirling abruptly and cleared his throat.  _Not the point of this conversation. “_ That’s very generous of you, but for right now, I’d rather talk about you.” Rey ducked her head again, wrapping her arms around her middle as her shy smile returned, and Poe internally fist pumped. “What do you do?”

“You won’t believe this,” Rey said, shaking her head and laughing. “But I study Aeronautical Engineering at Embry-Riddle.”

“What?” Poe gawked at her, and Rey smirked.

“Yep. I’m going to help build the planes you fly, Commander Dameron.” Poe would tell her not to bother with his rank as a civilian, off-base, but she said it so teasingly he found that he quite liked the formal title in her voice. A little too much, probably. 

“A lot of coincidences, huh?” Poe wondered aloud, and Rey nodded in agreement. “Waldo, Finn, the Navy, flying...”

“It’s almost like we were destined to meet,” Rey said sweetly, reaching out quickly to snag his cider. She smirked at him, daring him to comment, but Poe only gestured for her to go ahead. He very studiously did not watch her mouth as she took another sip. 

He didn’t comment on her mention of  _destiny,_ too afraid to verbally acknowledge that  _destiny_ was exactly what this felt like. Instead, he settled on, “I’m really glad we did.”

“Me too.” Rey handed him back his drink, and Poe almost felt like he had passed a test. They exchanged another smile, the crisp air settling in around them, and stood in silence for a few moments, drifting closer and closer together without realizing it. Then, the doors to the house flew open, and Finn gestured at them wildly.

“You two! Partners! Game! Now!” He disappeared back into the party, and Poe and Rey stared at each other before laughing. They stood up straight - at some point, they’d leaned into each other undeniably, and had only been six inches apart when the doors had flown open. 

“I guess he wants us to play a game?” Poe said, offering Rey a smile and maybe a way out if she didn’t want to be paired with him. 

“Guess so.” Rey shook her head and smiled ruefully. “This is where any chance I had at you thinking I’m normal goes out the window.” When he lifted his eyebrow questioningly, Rey clarified. “I play to win.”

“Oh thank God,” Poe said as they walked side by side back into the party. “Now I don’t have to hide what a competitive asshole I am.”

“Commander,” Rey drawled, smirking at him. He realized with a jolt that she was almost his height, and while she was slender, she was built powerfully. “I think this is the beginning of a beautiful partnership.” They walked to where Finn was waiting, bouncing on his heels, and Poe tried not to let his heart leap out of his chest at Rey’s very specific choice of words.  _Partners,_ not  _friends_ \- and she’d have no way of knowing that the ring around his neck had been entrusted to him on his eighteenth birthday, after he made an oath to wait to give it to the person meant to be his partner for life. 

He prayed his face looked normal as they settled into the folding chairs indicated by Finn, and he waved at the couple sitting across from them, dressed as Wesley and Buttercup.

Rey held his arm and giggled sweetly, and Poe briefly panicked, thinking she was tipsier than he’d thought - she batted her eyelashes at their fellow competitors. “You look so cute!” She giggled, and when Poe raised his eyebrows at her, she gazed up at him, her chin tucked into his chest. “Now they think we’re weak,” Rey whispered, the devil in her eyes. Poe snorted, the bright light in his chest now undeniable. 

If you’d told him this morning that he’d drag his feet to a party only to find someone who was this incredibly special, who made him feel like this, giddy but grounded, happy but slightly awed, he would have rolled his eyes and offered a smart ass remark. But with Rey tucked into his side as Finn explained the game, Poe felt as though his entire galaxy had shifted. 

It was a candy corn relay - which explained the two tables on either side of their chairs. There was a full bowl next to Rey and the girl sitting across from her dressed as Buttercup, and an empty bowl next to Poe and the girl sitting across from him dressed as Wesley. They had to transfer the candy corn from the full bowl to the empty bowl, as many kernels as possible in a minute and a half. 

Using only a spoon.

“That’s it? That’s the catch?” Rey said incredulously, her previous act of tipsy, non-threatening competitor gone. 

“Well,” Finn grinned at them. “The spoon’s held in your mouth.” Poe spluttered, staring at Finn anxiously, but Rey snorted and snagged the offered utensils. 

“Easy peasey.” She handed Poe a spoon and popped the handle of hers in her mouth. “You ready?” She asked, through a mouthful of metal. Poe nodded, unable to admit that  _this might be the most nerve-wracking thing he’d done in five years, and he regularly broke the sound barrier before engaging in combat._

He wondered if he looked ridiculous with a spoon hanging out of his mouth - somehow, Rey just looked cuter - but he didn’t have long to worry before Finn shouted “GO!” and they were off to the races. Rey had definitely, definitely not been kidding about her competitive streak. She moved so quickly, Poe thought she blurred slightly around the edges, coming back up from the bowl victoriously with two kernels on her spoon. Somehow, they navigated around her each other, Rey going high, and Poe going low, twisting in his seat to claim the kernels. 

He carefully twisted and dropped the kernels in the empty bowl, which clinked satisfyingly, and by the time he’d turned around, Rey was waiting with more candy corn on her spoon. He made the mistake of laughing and had to shove the spoon back in his face before taking her next offering. A crowd had formed at this point, and his jaw ached from the effort of playing the game  _and_ not smiling, but somehow he and Rey collected quite the pile of kernels by the time Finn declared “Stop!” 

He spat out the spoon into his lap and roared with laughter as the crowd went wild, and Rey shook his arm, cackling wildly. Wesley and Buttercup had gotten an impressive twelve pieces of candy corn - but Rey and Poe had gotten twenty-six. 

“Unreal!” Wesley laughed, holding her hand out for Poe to shake, and then Rey. “You guys are so cute, by the way.”

“Oh, we--”

“Yeah! You’re such a cute couple!” Buttercup added, beaming at them as they all stood and made way for the next relay pair. “We were saying that when you guys were talking earlier outside.”

“Thank you,” Rey said smoothly, smiling at them. “Thanks for a great game!” They wandered away, and Rey giggled some more, clutching his arm still as she did a small victory dance. “That was incredible!”

“Yeah, it really was,” Poe said wonderingly, his eyes studying her lovely face, animated by her joy in a terribly captivating way. Rey noticed him looking this time, and he floundered, about to apologize, but then --

Rey leaned in and brushed her lips over his cheek. “Well, Waldo,” she whispered, her cheeks flaming red as she pulled away. “I’m really glad I found you.”

“We found each other,” he corrected, holding his hand out. Rey slipped her hand into his, their fingers lacing together. “D’you want to...”

“Get out of here?” Rey asked hopefully, at the same time he said, “Go on a date sometime?”

Rey squeaked in embarrassment. “Oh my God, I just propositioned you, I’m so, so sorry--”

“Don’t be,” Poe said quickly, his gut twisting from happiness and something a little different. “I just...I’d really to take you out on a date before I take you home.”

“Oh.” Rey smiled at him. “Well then, I guess a date sounds pretty nice.”

“I know a great all-night diner. Best pancakes you’ve ever had,” Poe said, and Rey’s face lit up with a mischievous smirk. 

“You don’t say.”

They headed for the door, giggling still, and right as they almost made a clean getaway, Finn shouted loudly, over the din of the party -

“Hey!  _Where’s Waldo going_?”

**Author's Note:**

> should this have a sequel where Rey and Poe return a year later to defend their candy corn champion title, wearing an official couple's costume? Or...maybe even further in the future where it's a family costume...


End file.
